


Cruel Intentions

by Karasuno Volleygays (ToBeOrNotToBeAGryffindor)



Series: Valentine's Kisses 2019 [47]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Hurt feelings, M/M, Middle schoolers are mean, unrequited feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-29 09:58:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17805878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToBeOrNotToBeAGryffindor/pseuds/Karasuno%20Volleygays
Summary: Upset and irritated, Kunimi did something to Kageyama that he couldn't live with on his conscience, so he did his best to make amends.





	Cruel Intentions

“Ugh, how pathetic.” Kindaichi sneered across the classroom at Kageyama, who sat in a far corner, picking at his bento while the rest of the class laughed and conversed during their lunch break. “Who does he think he is, looking like a kicked puppy over there when we were the ones getting dumped on?”

Kunimi didn’t answer; he didn’t have to. While his feelings on the matter of volleyball were not on the meaner side of the comment, he agreed with Kindaichi’s sentiment. It had been four days since their on-court revolt and also the subsequent ending of their tournament run. He would get over it eventually, but the wound was still raw.

The worst part was knowing something Kindaichi didn’t know, what happened after the match, and not having the heart to tell him because it would have just made all three of them miserable.

Lunch dragged on, with Kindaichi slipping in snide remarks about Kageyama whenever the opportunity presented itself and a few times it didn’t. Meanwhile, Kunimi quietly picked at his food much like Kageyama was doing on the other side of the room. Though, if Kageyama was stealing glances over at them, Kunimi didn’t see him do it. He could feel it, though.

He didn’t particularly like what they were doing, but it was the only way to stop Kageyama from hurting himself or other people. He needed to stew over what he did, and Kunimi was going to stew in kind over something entirely different.

One thing was certain: Kindaichi didn’t need to know that Kunimi had already offered up his first kiss to their nightmare of a setter, had stolen Kageyama’s, and neither of them had enjoyed it.

 

***

 

The locker room was quiet, and Kageyama was nowhere to be found. One of the first years had mentioned that Kageyama was the first one to their changing room at the Sendai City Gymnasium, and he had grabbed his bag and fled the room before the rest of the team could arrive.

Good. 

Kindaichi peeled off his gear in an almost violent fashion, muttering under his breath about stupid kings and blahblahblah. Kunimi could relate, but he kept it on the inside where it wouldn’t remind their teammates that they gave up a chance at a championship to teach Kageyama a lesson.

Usually the last to leave the locker room because of general lack of desire to hurry off the court, Kunimi was far quicker in undressing. His shower consisted of rinsing himself off and leaving as soon as he was decent enough for public. Kindaichi gave him a questioning look, but Kunimi didn’t answer. He didn’t know what he was supposed to say, anyway.

_ Oh, you want to know why I don’t feel like listening to you bitch about stuff we all know? You figure it out. _ Kindaichi was his friend, but even friends tried one’s patience now and again. Kageyama used to be their friend, too, but everything — every _ one _ — had a breaking point.

His duffel bag dragged after him down the stairs, thumping on every step. Their bus wouldn’t be leaving to go back to school until later that afternoon because they had all planned to stay and watch other matches. It didn’t really matter whether they did or not at this point, since they wouldn’t be playing any of them.

He had two hours to kill and way too much time to think.

Kunimi opted to haunt the third floor bathroom, which was largely unused due to how far they were into the tournament. The third floor rooms were only used in the earlier rounds to house the larger number of teams. 

With a snort, Kunimi realized that their team hadn’t made it to at least the first floor-only changing rooms for the first time since he started at Kitagawa Daiichi.

In the far corner of the bathroom, Kunimi settled against the wall and fiddled with his phone. Earphones drowned out his coursing thoughts, and mindless scrolling on Twitter did the rest. He even set a timer on his phone for an hour and a half so he wouldn’t miss his escape from this godforsaken place. 

He never heard the bathroom door open, so Kunimi didn’t realize he wasn’t alone until a long shadow fell over him. Looking up, the absolute last person he wanted to see was blocking the lights overhead, but he could see the aghast expression on Kageyama’s face nonetheless. 

“I didn’t know anyone would be in here,” Kageyama muttered.

“Neither did I.” Kunimi pretended to go back to his almost robotic social media trawling, but he didn’t see a single word or picture on the screen. All he could see was that horrified look on Kageyama’s face when he approached Kunimi in the corner. As if he had the right to be that upset.

Waving his hand at Kageyama, Kunimi said, “Go find some other place to lurk. You’re blocking my light.”

“Oh.” Kageyama backed away, and Kunimi heard one of the far stall doors creak open and then closed. The matter settled as far as he was concerned, he turned his attention back to his phone. One earbud hung free, just so he could hear when Kageyama finally left the bathroom for good so he could get his peace and quiet back.

When he did hear Kageyama, he wished he didn’t.

Loud, snotty, ugly crying echoed in the bathroom, and Kunimi couldn’t pretend he didn’t notice. Even when he plugged his other earbud back in, it kept playing in his head.  _ As if Kageyama deserves to cry about this, _ he thought darkly. Kindaichi would probably do his crying later when he got home, but he earned that. He had given up the last of his middle school volleyball time because nobody else would do anything about Kageyama, who was ‘too good’ to put on the bench no matter how he acted.

But Kageyama? He made his bed, and he damn well better be ready to lie in it.

The subtle sound of Kageyama’s misery managed to scratch its way through the music, and after a half hour of it, he wondered how many tears Kageyama could possibly have left. Ten minutes later, he was done with it.

Shoving his phone in his pocket and plucking out his headphones, Kunimi tore open the unlocked stall door and hissed, “Stop being a baby. You deserve this and you know it.”

Kageyama looked up at him, face red and wilted with tears, and a fresh wave of sobbing poured form him. Kunimi rolled his eyes and closed the door. How whiny could one person possibly be, especially when the reason they were miserable was entirely on their own head?

Kunimi went back to his corner and erased the moment from his brain by aggressively crushing candy and playing music far louder than he was comfortable with. He had to do something, though. It was hard to unhear Kageyama’s pathetic whimpering, but it was almost impossible to unsee it. 

A while later, the shadow returned. Kageyama’s face was dry, thought it was still red and mottled, and his eyes were bloodshot. Bored with his time-killing endeavors anyway, Kunimi stowed his phone in his bag and stood toe to toe with Kageyama. “What do you want?”

Biting his lip, Kageyama averted his eyes. He was nervous (which he should have been considering who he was bothering), that much Kunimi could tell. 

“Spit it out, Kageyama,” Kunimi snapped. “I’d really like to leave.”

Kageyama lets out a shaking breath and finally meets Kunimi’s gaze. “I want you to know this isn’t what I wanted.”

Kunimi snorted. “Well, no shit. I’m fully aware that winning is more important to you than treating your teammates like actual people.”

“No!” Kageyama closed his eyes and mouthed something Kunimi couldn’t make out before he finally said, “I didn’t want to hurt anyone, and I definitely didn’t want to hurt you.”

Drawing himself up to his full height, minus his usual slouch, Kunimi decided to make Kageyama feel as small as possible, even if it was only by the few centimeters that separated their respective heights. “If you didn’t want to hurt anyone, you would’ve listened to us when we told you that you were being a dick. But you didn’t. Now we hurt you and you deserved it.”

“But I like you!” Kageyama yelped and hid his face in his shirt. 

A wry laugh met Kageyama’s awkward and grossly ill-timed confession. “Are you serious? After all this crap you put all of us through, put me through, you actually have the gall to say that to me?”

_ Clearly, I’m not as over this as I thought I was, _ Kunimi mused.

Kageyama didn’t answer, and Kunimi wasn’t done with his piece. “You know, I don’t even care that we lost the game. It happens sometimes. But what I do care about is that not a single person on our team is going to leave this year a happier person or a better player because of you. Not me, not Kindaichi, not all the little first years who look up to you like you’re some sort of god.”

“I didn’t —” Kageyama withered in front of him, and Kunimi felt a stab of petty glee. “I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry. I just want things to go back to the way they were.”

Kunimi crossed his arms. “Well, they won’t. They can’t.  _ I _ can’t.” He wheeled around to grab the strap of his bag, but a lightning quick hand latched around his wrist. Kageyama’s eyes were large and blue and red-rimmed and begging him to listen.

And that just wasn’t going to happen, especially not today.

With a rough shove, Kunimi pinned Kageyama to the bathroom wall and glared at him nose to nose. “Is this what you wanted? Is it?”

Kageyama’s mouth opened, and Kunimi blocked off any further poor excuses for apologies with a harsh kiss. He tore himself away and feigned spitting over his shoulder. “There. I hope you can get off to that, because you’re horrible no one will ever love you. Don’t ever talk to me again.”

With that, Kunimi dragged his bag behind him and walked with a carefully cultivated nonchalance from the bathroom.

Back in his own team’s locker room, a few of the guys were still there, including Kindaichi. He eyed Kunimi in surprise. “I thought you went home already.”

“I was waiting for our bus.” Kunimi snatched a towel and started wrenching his clothes back off. “I’m taking a shower.”

Kindaichi frowned. “You already took a shower.”

“Well I’m going to take another one!” Kunimi stormed into the showers and turned on the nearest spigot, and he didn’t give a damn about what temperature it was. Water far too cold for his liking rained down on him while he planted his forehead on the tiled wall and tried not to cry himself. 

What Kageyama had done to his teammates was bad, but what Kunimi had just done to Kageyama was terrible. The part that bothered him the most is that he didn’t actually regret doing it. Casual cruelty was what started this whole mess, and he was just as bad as Kageyama. No, he was worse.

When he left the showers shivering and sullen, Kindaichi didn’t mention it and Kunimi was glad. He would have to talk about this someday for the sake of his own sanity, but not at that moment. If he did, he might say or do something else he would hate himself for later.

The bus ride back to Kitagawa Daiichi was bereft of the sounds one would expect from a pack of middle school boys, and the crackle of the tires on the pavement underneath was a funeral dirge to grieve for the joy they had all lost that day. Kageyama was in the very front of the bus, budged up against the window and alone on the bench, and Kunimi sat quietly next to Kindaichi, staring out the window even though the motion of the passing scenery made him queasy.

He knew he should apologize. No matter what Kageyama did on the volleyball court, he didn’t deserve to have something that personal thrown back in his face like that. What Kunimi had done was just plain nasty by any standard.

The team quietly dispersed once they returned to the school, and Kunimi couldn’t get home fast enough.

 

***

 

The school day ended, and as he was wont to do, Kageyama headed straight home rather than to the gym to participate in third year practice to keep their skills fresh in preparation for high school. The group was smaller than usual, as a large chunk of their batch had given up on volleyball entirely after they retired from the club.

Kunimi usually went, if only for half the time because he rather enjoyed naps after school, but that day, he didn’t. Instead, he stalked after Kageyama, whose house wasn’t all that far from Kunimi’s, but Kunimi had no intention of going home right away.

There was something he had to do first.

“Kageyama,” Kunimi said softly, almost too quiet to hear, but Kageyama reeled to a halt at the sound nonetheless. “I have something to say.” He could see Kageyama’s hands balling into fists at his sides, but he waited nonetheless.

Dragging his feet as he stepped in front of Kageyama, Kunimi had difficulty looking Kageyama in the eye. After four days of turning it over and over in his head, though, he knew he had to make this part of their fateful loss right.

Taking a deep breath, Kunimi said, “What I did to you was really bad, and I’m sorry for that.”

Kageyama shook his head. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Yes it does.” He poked underneath Kageyama’s chin so he had to force eye contact. That way, neither of them could chicken out. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to feel that way about you, but one of these days when you get your shit together, someone is going to like that giant dork you were before you turned into a dickhead. You’re gonna like them back, and everyone will be happier.”

Kunimi clapped Kageyama on the shoulder and gave him a tight smile. “So, uh, you don’t have to accept my apology, but I accept yours. What happened on Saturday is officially dead to me. I owe you that much after what I did.” He stuck his hands in his pocket and left a shocked Kageyama standing in the middle of the sidewalk.

Before he was out of earshot, Kunimi tossed a wave over his shoulder. “See you around. We’ll kick your ass next year.”

He could almost feel Kageyama smile at the challenge. “I’ll be ready,” Kunimi heard, and he couldn’t help but smile himself.

 


End file.
